Untold Scandal

The tenth film version of Choderlos de Laclos’ Les Liasons Dangereuses transports all the frisky goings-on to the sumptuously scarlet environs of Korea’s primly repressive late-Chosun period. And I do mean all. By focusing on the contemporaneous Catholic underground, E.J. Yong’s Untold Scandal stays faithful to the source material – or at least to Christopher Hampton’s saucy 1988 screenplay – when a delve into the mores of high-Confucian society might have been more novel. Still, if the film occasionally feels like gorgeously slick global product out to court plush superlatives, it’s impossible to go wrong with this delightfully wicked tale of sexual conquest and revenge (after all, if the version with Ryan Phillippe doesn’t completely suck…). Only the soulless could fail to be entertained as the central players – world-weary cad, Lord Cho-Won (Joon-Yong) alpha-female succubus, Lady Cho (Mi-Sook, simmering) and corruptible virgin, Lady Chung (Do-Yeon) – descend into tragic ecstasy while yearning for free love and liberation in China. China? Are they quite sure?

Running time 120mins. Cert IFI members. Opens June 24th